Contents

Reasons

On a national level, American citizens think that developing
high-speed rail corridors would create thousands of jobs, reduce
road congestion and pollution, and improve freight capacity,
business productivity and energy conservation. Proponents of the
Cascadia high-speed rail also believe that it would help the three
international airports in Vancouver, Seattle and Portland operate
more efficiently and collaboratively, improve international trade
and promote tourism.[3]

From Ecolopolis: Making the Case For a Cascadian SuperCity, it
says:

"Imagine boarding a high-speed rail train in downtown
Portland. Your coffee steams while you sit down to open your
laptop. As the train's speed increases, rivers and snowy volcanic
peaks come in and out of view. The city vanishes into a mossy haze
of temperate rainforest. This is Cascadia, the distinct region
known to the world as the Pacific Northwest. It encompasses two
states (Oregon and Washington), one province (British Columbia) and
an international border (USA/Canada). After just over two hours,
the train pulls up amidst the sleek high-rise towers of Vancouver.
Roundtrip your travel tops 600 miles, but high-speed rail will
allow you to return to Portland after your meeting in time for
dinner. Fact or fiction? Currently, air connections make it
possible. However, for this tale to become true, the fundamental
underpinnings of Cascadia, and the identity of the region as a
place, would need to become much stronger, and more carefully
articulated From the outside, we are one region. From the inside,
it's difficult to get the citizens of the Portland metropolitan
region today to embrace the issues (let alone the professional
sports teams) of the Seattle and Vancouver, BC metropolitan areas
as their own."[4]